5 Self Publishing Predictions for 2012

It’s been a big year with huge swings in trends and changes in publishing and reading habits. As we round out 2011, I’ve been looking forward to the year ahead with some key predictions for you here.

“Independent authors will increasingly become the low hanging fruit for the trade publishers to acquire for survival. Get ready!”

1. The big publishers will continue trying to adapt

Mid to High tier publishers will continue finding more ways to capitalise on the self-publishing shift in the industry. This past year saw Dymocks release it’s D-Publishing and Penguin with it’s Book Country self publishing division, both are simply vanity publishing outfits taking advantage of the writers and authors that have yet to inform themselves fully. High upfront charges, restricted sale rights, retained digital and print rights, it goes on. Stay away from these and others that emerge.

2. The Self Publishing stigma will disappear by the end of 2012

This so-called stigma of self publishing will no longer hold the same weight. This stigma only comes from an individual’s personal perspective on this particular way to publish a book. The tide turns as more independent authors (Real self publishing properly using their own ISBN’s) find success and traction in the marketplace building significant readerships. They will no longer be frowned upon as lessor authors, but become the low hanging fruit for the surviving trade publishers to acquire, such as Amanda Hocking and John Locke.

This industry change has already brought and will continue to bring many attitude adjustments from publishers, authors, agents and book award associations. Not from readers, they don’t care which print shed their new favourite book was boxed out from. They just want quality books. They are the gatekeepers in the new slush which is the marketplace.

3. Australia and UK adoption of eReaders will increase significantly

At the moment the US leads with the adoption of eBook’s and e-Tech as a whole. The UK and Australia are 18 months behind and it’s no secret that the UK eBook market is held back by the sales tax of electronic books. This will eventually change as the tipping point is upon us and will peak in 2012.

4. Some genres will still relish the print book

Currently paranormal romance to no surprise is one of the trends doing well in eBook form, but that doesn’t mean eBooks is becoming the be-all, end-all for all books. Currently and moving into 2012, children’s books still sit strongly in the print world. Also, business related books have a different slant to them from fiction as a business book has the added angle of being a huge authority setter for the spokesperson or expert as a credibility card. The eBooks, just don’t weild the same value.

5. Amazon in 2012

I feel it’s a given Amazon will continue to expand it’s reach internationally becoming available to other countries, having recently become available to Italy, Spain and soon no doubt India and others.

Amazon will also continue stepping up it’s ‘exclusivity’ model with Amazon Select, which allows Independent authors to make their books available exclusively on Amazon and available to Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library for Amazon Prime members.

Amazon will make strong moves to acquire more best selling authors to add to it’s rank. This year saw Deepak Chopra, Tim Ferris and J.A. Konrath all sign with Amazon, now the industry’s 7th big trade publisher.

Looking forward…

I believe it’s bright times moving forward in 2012 for writers and authors. Make no mistake there’s still time required to market your book effectively over the longer term, but the tools, resources and opportunities available makes it a lot more fun and rewarding. Writers and authors just need to overcome what has always been the biggest barrier to publishing … making it a ‘must‘ to get a book published, instead of a ‘would like‘.

Great things only come from great action and I’m here to help you make your 2012 year count!

The stigma is only personal associations an individual places on it. It’ll disappear Karen and only those few in the minority who look down are the ones trying to save their publishing business and skin and don’t know how to adapt. This industry change is cause to many attitude adjustments and business models right now. Thanks for the comment!